Portal 3: What If?
by InGodzHandz
Summary: This is a prequel to my other story. It is about Chell dealing with the fact that her daughter has a mental disorder. It was originally going to be part of a longer story, but I decided that it was good enough to have a life of its own. Christian POV!


Portal 3: What If?

Chell sat outside and contemplated under the trees in the shade enveloped in the warm summer air as she watched her 2-year-old daughter play in the sun. It was so hot that Chell's light blue tank top, jean shorts, and sandals were drenched in sweat. Even the towel that Chell was sitting on was wet. Nevertheless, Chelsea was as happy as could be. She was running around in a red ladybug dress and pig tails with sandals on as she jumped around in mud puddles from the rain the day before. The weather was humid and hot now because of it, but of course, Chelsea didn't care. She loved being outside in the sun no matter how hot or cold it was.

As Chell sipped from her water bottle and continued to look at her daughter, she smiled and laughed to herself. Her daughter was perfectly weird in every way, and she absolutely loved her for it. At two, she was energetic, funny, outgoing, and stubborn yet very sweet.

Chelsea loved to play with others, especially her parents, her godfather, her godbrother, and her mom's best friend. She seemed to not mind sitting still, but she also loved to run around, talk, sing things to herself, draw on paper and occasionally on things like herself, have books read to her, and mess around with her powers. Chelsea, at this point, knew how to make the light orbs that she had made since she was a baby, and she had figured out how to make shields around herself and around other things.

Chelsea usually went between doing several of these activities at once, and at times, she seemed to struggle to concentrate hard enough to do anything. While Chell dismissed it as her simply having a toddler brain, that behavior alerted Zaki that something was off about their daughter.

At that moment, Chell was pulled from her thoughts as she watched Chelsea run as fast as she could toward the tree next to her. Right before she hit it, she pulled her shield up around her body to protect herself. The impact caused her to fall backwards into the grass. She looked over at her mother and started to giggle. Chell could not help but giggle back even as she worried.

A few mornings ago, Zaki and Roscoe told her what they had found in Chelsea's mind upon examination. She was developing Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, a genetically inherited disorder that made her attention span difficult to control and gave her an unusually high amount of energy that would be hard to manage for her entire life.

Chell knew that it had to be true beyond any shadow of a doubt. Her husband had been monitoring Chelsea's brain patterns since she was born. It was part of his abilities since Zaki was telepathic. He could see anyone's brain patterns without needing to look at a scan. Roscoe could as well and corroborated what he had found. They both knew what they were talking about and were most likely right. All the same, Chell was still in shock.

After laying on her back for a minute, Chelsea stood up and walked over to her mother. Despite the fact that she was filthy, Chell allowed her to sit on her lap and snuggle up to her.

"Are you tired, Chelsea?" Chell asked as she stroked her baby's head. "Do you want water?"

"Yeah," Chelsea replied, sitting up.

Chell opened the water bottle and held it up as Chelsea gulped down some water. When she was done drinking, her mother wiped her mouth off with her hand.

"Do you want to go inside to take a bath and a nap?" Chell asked, wiping her hand on her tank top.

"No!" Chelsea yelled as she got up and ran back towards the mud.

Chell laughed to herself and stared after her daughter in amusement mixed with concern. The announcement had been made to Sylvie and to the rest of the congregation the day before after the church service. They were all as supportive as could be. They all assured her that Chelsea would be alright, and they would do anything they could to help.

Zaki did, too. He told her that Chelsea would have self-control issues, but he and everyone else would work with her to help her learn to control her energetic mind and body. It would be difficult since she didn't have medicine to help her but not impossible. Chelsea would be fine. In fact, she would be better than fine. Chelsea was most likely going to be more intelligent and more creative than her peers. That was a great side effect of the disorder. Chell knew that was true. She saw those traits in her daughter already.

Nevertheless, Chell still worried. Her daughter was going to have to deal with a mental problem that Chell knew very little about for the rest of her life, and her mother could do nothing to take it away. How would they both deal with it?

What made her worry more was the source of this disorder. Zaki, telepathically knowing his wife's thoughts, assured her that the genetic disorder that came from his side of the family. His brother had had it, so the genetic trait was present in him and passed down to Chelsea. Chell believed that, but nonetheless, she could not help but wonder. Was it her fault?

Back in Aperture Science, Chell was exposed to all sorts of hazardous radiation. Thankfully, up until her difficult pregnancy, she never dealt with any medical problems from it, but she wondered if perhaps it was possible that something passed onto Chelsea. The very thought made her shiver. She didn't want to think it was possible. By the grace of God, she was let go and had left that horrible place behind. She didn't want to think it could be possible that the radiation could have damaged Chelsea's mind.

As Chell continued to watch Chelsea jump around in the mud, she smiled. Chelsea was so happy. She had no idea there was any problem going on in her mind and that she would have to work hard for the rest of her life just to deal with it. She just jumped around and enjoyed the mud. She was just so joyful and so full of life.

Chell sighed. She had had psychological problems ever since she escaped. Her mind was scarred and damaged. God, her husband, and her friends had been helping, but she still struggled. She didn't want her daughter to have to struggle, too. She didn't want her to have to know any pain in her life, especially not psychologically.

 _"You know that's unrealistic. You can't protect her from everything."_

Chell looked around quickly, then gave out a deep breath when she realized who it was. It had been two years since she let _him_ in, but she was still not used to hearing his voice. It was truly ironic that she had this gift. She was the last person on the planet who would ever trust voices, but here he was.

"I know," Chell replied quietly. "But what do I do?"

 _"Teach her how to endure. That is the best thing you can do for her. Don't worry. I'll help you."_

His voice then went silent, leaving Chell with her thoughts. It hurt to accept it, but he was right. Chell couldn't protect her daughter from everything and there was nothing she could do away the problems. However, she could teach her how to endure it. That was what got Chell through her life before and that was what would help Chelsea now. She would pass down that skill to her daughter so that nothing, including her mental problems, would ever be able to stop her.

Chelsea stopped jumping in the mud and yawned very loudly where she stood. Chell sighed and stood up. Her two years of mothering experience told her that Chelsea was tired and needed to be bathed and put down for a nap.

She walked over, crouched down next to her, and said, "Chelsea, are you ready for a bath? Do you want to go inside?"

"Yeah," Chelsea said as she rubbed her eye with her muddy hand.

"Alrighty then, let's go, babe."

"Kay."

Chell stood up and walked over to the tree to pick up the towel she was sitting on as Chelsea trotted over to where she was standing. Chell looked down to her and opened her arms as an offer to carry her inside, but Chelsea refused it and ran ahead of her.

Chell smiled as she followed and watched her daughter. Her little girl was truly beautifully and wonderfully made, whether she had a mental disability or not.


End file.
